Using YDS Advanced Search

This section provides some examples on how to use the advanced search facilities provided by the YourDataStories (YDS) application. A series of "tabs" are presented to the user, representing categories of data available through the YDS platform. Each "tab" has a search field, where the user can use to perform searches within the category represented by the "tab".

In order to access the advanced search, the user has to click on the link "Show Advanced Search", just below the "Search" button:

After "Show Advanced Search" is clicked, a new graphical element (UI) will appear, similar to the following one:

Through this graphical element you can create a set of "rules", which can be grouped, and connected with logical operators (such as "AND", "OR", "NOT") to form a complex logical expression, which can be used for searching within the data category represented by the "tab".

Operator examples

When the value is of a string type, the following wildcard characters can be used:

The wildcard search tes* would match 'test', 'testing', and 'tester'. You can also use wildcard characters in the middle of a term. For example: te*t would match 'test' and 'text'. *est would match 'pest' and 'test'. [*]

The following table presents some examples for any operator offered by advanced search:

Operator

value type: string

value type: numerical

equal

If value is a single word, it can have wildcard characters. For example, YourData* will match 'YourDataStories'. In order to match the character '*', you can use double quotes: "YourData*" will match only 'YourData*'.If value contains more than one words, separated by space, wildcard characters cannot be used (they are treated as normal characters, loosing their "wildcard"-iness).

A numerical value, such as 10 or 3.14 is expected.

less

Not applicable.

Any numerical value, date, or time. The value is excluded from the results, i.e. data that match the value are not returned.

less or equal

Not applicable.

Any numerical value, date, or time. The value is included in the results, i.e. data that match the value are returned.

greater

Not applicable.

Any numerical value, date, or time. The value is excluded from the results, i.e. data that match the value are not returned.

greater or equal

Not applicable.

Any numerical value, date, or time. The value is included in the results, i.e. data that match the value are returned.

between

Not applicable.

Any two numerical values, dates, or times. The values are included in the results, i.e. the matched data are in the range [value1, value2].

begins with

The value should be a single word, where the wildcard "*" is added at the begining of the value. For example, "est" becomes "*est".

Not applicable.

ends with

The value should be a single word, where the wildcard "*" is appended at the end of the value. For example, "tes" becomes "tes*".

Not applicable.

contains

One or more words (separated by spaces) are expected. All words must exist in the data in order to be matched, but each word does not need to appear next to the rest of the words. For example, "a the", will match data that contain both "a" and "the", in any position in the filed value.

Not applicable.

is empty

No value is expected. Matches the empty string.

Not applicable.

The follwoing operators are identical to the corresponding operators already described, but they negate the returned result: Everything that does not match is returned.

Negation Operators

not equal

Identical to operator equal, but data that do not match the rule are returned.

not between

Identical to operator between, but data that do not match the rule are returned.

not begins with

Identical to operator begins with, but data that do not match the rule are returned.

not ends with

Identical to operator ends with, but data that do not match the rule are returned.

not contains

Identical to operator contains, but data that do not match the rule are returned.

is not empty

Identical to operator is empty, but data that do not match the rule are returned.